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- INDUCTION CRITERIA TO WORLD GOLF HALL OF FAME:
At least 40 years old
Member 10 years
10 TOUR wins, or 2
wins among Masters, US Open, British Open, PGA Championship,and PLAYERS Championship
Require votes on 75 percent of ballots
returned
IF YOU CAN, PLEASE VOTE!
- Johnny Farrell was the Head Golf Professional at Baltusrol Golf Club
in Springfield, New Jersey from 1934-1971. During his career, he has received many distinctions and honors. In addition to
teaching 5 Presidents of the United States and the Duke of Windsor, Johnny Farrell won his first tournament at the age of
19. His other career highlights include:
Golf Professional of the Year: 1927 and 1928
Best Dressed Golfer: 1927
Metropolitan
Golfers Hall of Fame
PGA Hall of Fame: 1961
Golf Family of the Year: 1966
- For more historical information
please contact the USGA Golf House or Baltusrol Golf Club who have both dedicated space in their museums to who OB Keeler
called "Handsome Johnny".
- HOW THE HALL OF FAMERS LOST THEIR HALL
BYLINE: Craig Dolch
DATE: May
7, 2000
PUBLICATION: The Palm Beach Post
EDITION: FINAL
SECTION: SPORTS
PAGE: 17B
MEMO: Info box at end
of text.
Doug Ford was happy to hear his old buddy Jack Burke Jr. got elected into the World Golf Hall of Fame
last week. But there was a part of Ford that burned over the news, and for good reason.
"Jackie and I already were
in the Hall of Fame," Ford said. "We went in together, in 1975, at a ceremony at Disney. Why should you have to get voted
into the Hall of Fame twice?" That's a question that golf has quietly been asking for almost 20 years, ever since the PGA
Hall of Fame merged with the financially-strapped World Golf Hall of Fame in 1983 and the system became embroiled in an ugly
combination of politics and economics.
The PGA Hall of Fame, which had been around since 1940, had 50 members, 21 of
whom also were members of the World Golf Hall of Fame. Those 21 with dual memberships were immediately inducted into the merged
hall. But the other 28 members of the PGA Hall of Fame were forced to play a waiting game to see if they would get inducted
into the only hall of fame that exists today.
Eight of them - Cary Middlecoff (1986), Roberto De Vicenzo ('89), Paul
Runyan ('90), Horton Smith ('90), Gene Littler ('90), Harry Cooper ('92), Lloyd Mangrum ('99) and soon Burke - eventually
got in the World Golf Hall of Fame at the World Golf Village in St. Augustine. That leaves 21 members of the PGA Hall of Fame
who are on the outside looking in, with Lake Worth's Ford and Chandler Harper the only two still living.
They're Hall
of Famers without a hall.
"Doug Ford should be in there, absolutely," Burke said. "So should guys like Henry Picard
and Dutch Harrison. But I don't know how to get them in. I don't know how I got in, even though I never felt I was out."
Ford's
18 career titles included two majors (the 1957 Masters and the 1955 PGA) and he also was a member of four Ryder Cup teams.
Gary Player once called the short-hitting Ford one of the most tenacious competitors he faced.
Ford, 77, isn't about
to start lobbying on his behalf, but he says he was one of the top players in the 1950s. "I was never out of the top 10 in
money for 10 years, and I think that's like batting .400 in the majors," he said. "But I don't know what they're looking for.
Hell, almost all the sports writers who covered me are dead."
Ford and Burke said they were never told why the PGA
of America didn't grandfather in all their Hall of Famers into the World Golf Hall of Fame after the merger. When the LPGA
started its hall in 1967, it took in all six of its members of the Hall of Fame of Women's Golf.
Most of the top PGA
of America officials have been reluctant to discuss the issue because they're not exactly sure why all 50 players weren't
transferred over. Moreover, they don't think it's their issue anymore because induction now involves all of the sport's major
governing bodies.
Ford also hasn't gained any support for his crusty ways. He's always has said what's on his mind,
regardless if it offends anyone. For instance . . .
"Why is Chi Chi Rodriguez in the Hall of Fame?" Ford asked. "That's
an insult to a lot of players. As great a guy as he is, look at his record." Rodriguez won eight tour titles and no majors.
Ford
can still get inducted from the newly created Veteran's Category, which considers players whose prime came before 1960. He
has to be nominated, then passed through an executive board before the final vote comes from a five-person committee that
includes most of golf's top officials.
There is a plaque at the World Golf Hall of Fame to honor the PGA hall of famers.
Ruffin Beckwith, a vice-president with the World Golf Foundation, said the fact that eight of the PGA Hall of Famers have
been inducted after the merger indicates the system is rectifying any errors.
"We weren't going to react to anything
right away," Beckwith said. "We wanted the process to have a chance to work. There's still a chance that players like Doug
will get in."
Ford isn't holding his breath.
"I'm going to keep on living whether I'm in the Hall of Fame or
not," Ford said. "I know I won my share of tournaments. It's not like there's any money involved, anyway."
craig_dolch@pbpost.com
Who's
in - and who isn't
Founded in 1940, the PGA Hall of Fame inducted 50 members until it merged with the World Golf Hall
of Fame in 1983. Twenty-one of them - including Lake Worth's Doug Ford - are still waiting to enter.
GOT IN RIGHT AWAY
(21): Willie Anderson, Tommy Anderson, Jim Barnes, Chick Evans, Bob Jones, Francis Ouimet, Walter Hagen, Gene Sarazen, Jerry
Travers, Walter Travis, Ben Hogan, Byron Nelson, Sam Snead, Jimmy Demaret, Lawson Little, Ralph Guldahl, Julius Boros, Babe
Zaharias, Patty Berg, Arnold Palmer, Billy Casper.
EVENTUALLY GOT IN (8): Cary Middlecoff (1986), Roberto De Vicenzo
(1989), Horton Smith (1990), Paul Runyan (1990), Gene Littler (1990), Harry Cooper (1992), Lloyd Mangrum (1999), Jack Burke
Jr. (2000).
STILL WAITING (21): Johnny McDermott, Alex Smith, MacDonald Smith, Leo Diegel, Craig Wood, Denny Shute,
Jock Hutchinson, Mike Brady, Fred McLeod, Johnny Farrell, Henry Picard, Dutch Harrison, Olin Dutra, Johnny Revolta, Ed Dudley,
Vic Ghezzi, Billy Burke, Bobby Cruickshank, Chick Harbert, Chandler Harper*, Doug Ford*.
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